Covered employment classified in Construction increased by 10.8 percent over the year. This is the second consecutive year that Construction recorded the largest percentage increase in total employment of any sector. Employment in Construction has increased by 144.1 percent since 1989, the year that it bottomed out. This represented 6.97 percent of all jobs verses 4.11 percent in 1989. The average wage increased from $33,409 to $34,567. The average wage increase was less than half of the previous years’.
Fifty-eight percent of all Construction jobs were within the Denver Boulder MSA. These jobs had an average annual salary of $36,896.
Special Trades was the largest and fastest growing sub-sector within Construction. Special Trades added 10,085 jobs or 10.3 percent to average 99,373 jobs in 1999. Within Special Trades, every four digit SIC code added jobs in 1999 from Water Well Drilling, which was up by 34 jobs to 502 to Electrical Work, which was up by 2,210 jobs to 17,204. Two other categories experienced four-digit gains including Plumbing, Heating, Air-Conditioning, up 1,793 jobs to 20,279 and Concrete Work up 1,394 jobs to 12,418.
General Building Contractors of Residential Buildings, both operative and non-operative, recorded an increase of 2,007 jobs to 17,899 in 1999. Industrial Buildings and Warehouses employment unexpectedly declined from 2,555 to 2,411 jobs. Nonresidential Construction, NEC, employment increased by 8.1 percent to 9,551. The average annual wage for General Building increased by 5.7 percent to $39,613.
Employment within Heavy Construction increased by 10.0 percent to 17,573 jobs. Water, Sewer, and Utility Lines, the largest classification within Heavy Construction, added 1,048 jobs to average 7,063 in 1999. Employment classified in Highway and Street Construction increased by 10.7 percent to 5,831. Bridge, Tunnel, and Elevated Highway Construction was up 14 percent to 708. The only sub-category within Heavy Construction to record a decline in employment was Heavy Construction, NEC, declining 2.3 percent to 3,971. The annual average wage within Heavy Construction declined from $40,988 to $39,912.
An additional 3,105 Construction jobs were classified under government ownership. The construction boom has caused large increases in employment that are not classified in this sector including related Mining, Trade, Finance Insurance and Real Estate and Manufacturing
Note: Establishments are classified by the location of their administrative office if no permanent work site exists, which may skew county aggregation toward established counties and away from rapidly growing counties.
| 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | |
| Average Employment | 102,058 | 111,064 | 118,944 | 132,543 | 146,810 |
| Total Wages | $2,901,606,423 | $3,317,354,874 | $3,699,424,468 | $4,428,084,902 | $5,074,746,592 |
| Percent of Total Emp. | 5.63% | 5.93% | 6.09% | 6.53% | 6.97% |
| Percent of Total Wages | 5.90% | 6.21% | 6.30% | 6.76% | 7.05% |